Shaharyar Khalid

ISLAMABAD: Imagine waking up one morning to find your child&#39;s social media apps simply do not work. Would you feel happy, sad, or conflicted? You&#39;re likely not alone. Four experts weigh in, yet they cannot agree. Muneeza Zafar, a mental health counsellor, believes banning is a good start. Child psychologist Khubi Khaleeq disagrees. &ldquo;They won&#39;t stop it. They&#39;ll look for a way to hide it better.&rdquo; Meanwhile, Asad Baig, founder and director of Media Matters for Democracy, offers a third path. &ldquo;We should start with educating parents instead of a carpet banning like the UK or Australia.&rdquo; This split reflects a global debate. In December 2025, Australia formally barred under-16s from YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and X. Non-compliant companies face fines up to 50 million Australian dollars ($35 million). Britain followed on June 15, 2026, banning Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X for under-16s, with enforcement targeted for spring 2027. Days later, the UAE became the first Arab nation to act. Its cabinet resolution bans under-15s from creating or operating personal social media accounts, giving platforms 12 months to comply. Notably, parental consent cannot override the restriction. France, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Canada are moving in similar directions. &ldquo;Every parent can see it with their own eyes. Social media makes children unhappy,&rdquo; Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at Downing Street. Baig argues everyone now acknowledges the harm. &ldquo;Mark Zuckerberg apologized to parents after nudity appeared on their daughters&#39; Instagram timelines. Chatbots in the US were involved in harm that resulted in suicide. A California court ruled that platform design itself, not just content, promotes addiction,&rdquo; he says. Clinical psychologist Syeda Aleezah Shah explains how &ldquo;constant exposure causes dopamine loop disruption. Constant notifications trigger short-term reward pathways in a child&#39;s brain, lowering their attention span for real-world tasks.&rdquo; Khaleeq notes that &ldquo;attention span, stress management, social engagement, and exposure to violence are all deteriorating for a child&#39;s personality. But there is always a plus side.&rdquo; Enforcement, however, proves difficult. Research on Australian teens reveals over 60% who had accounts before the ban retained access using printed face masks, borrowed parental IDs, and VPNs. &ldquo;You can literally ask any AI the mechanism to override these things, and it will tell you,&rdquo; Shah notes. Baig warns banning major platforms creates false comfort: &ldquo;Many other platforms like Roblox and PUBG have predators. Banning could promote a false sense of security.&rdquo; Zafar maintains her position. &ldquo;Children under 16 get no substantial benefit from social media that they wouldn&#39;t get through play, family, or exploring,&rdquo; she says. However, Khaleeq counters with how &ldquo;balancing it with strategies that help children accomplish those needs holds the key.&rdquo; While Shah suggests that &ldquo;we must educate parents about cyber safety and security.&rdquo; Baig issues a sharp local warning. &ldquo;Unlike Australia and the UK, we have a diverse society where young entrepreneurs make their livelihood from platforms like Facebook. A ban could be counterproductive. This might not work in Pakistan.&rdquo; Four experts, yet no consensus. As more countries follow Australia and the UK, the real question becomes whether one policy can ever fit every society.

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As governments move to block children from social media, four Pakistani experts offer sharply different answers to a question parents everywhere are asking: Do bans actually work?

To ban or not to ban: Do social media restrictions for minors work?

JAKARTA: Indonesia&#39;s government is mulling an e-commerce ban for under-16s, the communications minister told AFP Wednesday, hot on the heels of Jakarta imposing a sweeping social media prohibition for teens. &quot;E-commerce (platforms) are next, because we found children who became scam victims through e-commerce,&quot; Communications and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid said in an interview in Jakarta, without providing further details. In March, app-addicted Indonesia started enforcing a social media ban for under-16s in a bid to shield some 70 million children from the threats of online pornography, cyberbullying, and internet addiction. The policy followed Australia&#39;s landmark move in December to stop teenagers from holding accounts on many popular platforms. The Indonesian regulation initially targeted eight &quot;high risk&quot; platforms: YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox. But it will eventually apply to &quot;all digital platforms&quot;, Meutya said Wednesday, including online shopping sites. The Southeast Asian archipelago of more than 284 million people boasts one of the highest concentrations of social media users in the world. Meutya said the government aimed to help parents take on the &quot;big platforms&quot; to protect their children. &quot;Letting them face off against (the platforms) alone, without rules, is like letting parents play chess against a grandmaster. They won&#39;t win, or it will be very hard to win,&quot; Meutya told AFP. Global reckoning&nbsp;Roblox became the latest platform to comply with the new regulations, introducing age-verification technology and restricting content based on users&#39; ages, the government said last week. More than half of Roblox&#39;s 45 million Indonesian users are children under 16, the government said. Social media giants are facing a global reckoning as governments increasingly worry about their impact on users&#39; well-being. The Turkish parliament last month approved a law to prevent children under 15 from accessing social media platforms. Some European countries, including Norway, Greece, France, Spain, and Denmark, have said they will introduce similar restrictions. Like in Australia, the Indonesian rules place the onus on platforms to regulate teen access. Non-compliance with the ban, which will be phased in over time, will put defaulters at risk of a fine or even suspension of their services in the country.

This illustration photograph taken on October 30, 2023, shows the X (former Twitter) logo on a smartphone in Mulhouse, eastern France. (AFP/File)

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The policy follows Australia's landmark move in December to stop teenagers from having accounts on many popular platforms.

Articles tagged with "Under-16s"

To ban or not to ban: Do social media restrictions for minors work?

Indonesia eyes e-commerce ban for under-16s: Minister to AFP

To ban or not to ban: Do social media restrictions for minors work?